Blind justice or inherent ignorance?

I don't know what to make of the situation of the verdict of the Bay Area Rapid Transit officer that killed an unarmed black male, Oscar Grant, in January of 2009.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the verdict was "involuntary manslaughter" for former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. 

Although there were protests as a result of the verdict, according San Francisco Bay Area ABC owned-and-operated station KGO-TV "ABC7",  the Oakland Police the protesters were mostly outside agitators attempting to take advantage of the situation.  Regardless, if there are outside agitators or not the vast majority of the anger and aggravation associated with the verdict of the case is understandable.  The looting and property damage/destruction isn't excusable at all, but a significant number of East Bay (of the San Francisco Bay Area) citizens are upset that this verdict doesn't fit the crime.

It also vexes me as an independent thinker and black male as to why would a jury after realizing that if there tables were turned that the verdict would have highly likely harsher.   (In reference for those don't understand what I mean is if somebody was being apprehended by a police officer and the officer is accidentally killed in pursuit of the person).

The grasping of the conceptualization of why that the existence and lives of black American males is seen as the lowest of the low in the westernized world.  This can also be applied to the lives of any non-white males.  In particular, black males deal with the paranoia of everyone since we are seen as the "boogeymen" of society since there are higher incarceration and death rates. 

Adam Serwer of American Prospect summed it up quite eloquently:

I want to focus for a moment on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. To convict on the higher charge of voluntary manslaughter, the prosecution would have had to prove that Mehserle's fear of Grant and his friends was "unreasonable." It decided the crime was involuntary. In other words, Mehserle's fear? That was reasonable.
Fear is at the core of questions of justice involving the deaths of black people at the hands of the authorities in the United States of America, dating back to when Toussaint L'Overture put the fear of G-d in slaveowners by revealing that their "property" might someday rise up against them. L'Overture still has that effect on some people. Following emancipation were the days when "justice" was meted out in the South by terrorists posing as vigilantes. Even then, when such atrocities were an accepted part of black life, people inside and outside the South found ways to sympathize with the anger and fear white Southerners felt toward their black neighbors -- The New York Times editorialized in the 1890s that no "reputable or respectable negro" had ever been lynched.
Even decades after the civil-rights era, a cop shooting an unarmed black man is barely a crime -- a 2007 ColorLines investigation of police shootings in New York City found that in 12 instances when the victim was unarmed, only one officer was found criminally liable. There hasn't been a murder conviction on a police shooting in Oakland since 1983.  As Kai Wright wrote in the aftermath of the Sean Bell verdict, "American law has been sanctioning the killing of black people to mollify white fear for centuries. ... We scare the shit out of America. And that fear excuses just about any reaction it spawns." Mehserle is profoundly unlucky to be punished at all.
Times change, but the radioactive fear of black people, black men in particular, has proved to have a longer half-life than any science could have discerned. This is not a fear white people possess of black people -- it is a fear all Americans possess. It makes white cops kill black cops, it makes black cops kill black men, and it whispers in the ears of white and nonwhite jurors alike that fear of an unarmed black man lying face down in the ground is not "unreasonable." All of which is to say, while it infects all of us, a few of us bear the brunt of the suffering it causes.

After all this "post-racial notions" of the election of Barack Obama there seems to be no end in sight to mollify the negative connotations associated with the black male.  Instead, we still live in a society where there is more "reasonable" fear of our existence than anything else.  Me being a generally non-temperament, usually varied dress, and friendly individual would still be accused of being "wild, temperamental, and aggressive" since I am black and a male.  Sad, just plain, sad.

The only upside to this case is the U.S. Department of Justice is considering looking into this to see if the case was taken too lightly by California state officials. (courtesy of KGO-TV)

What's up with electronic bingo in Alabama?

I mean honestly, what the hell is up with this?  I mean it has turned into a biggest game of cluster fucking in my lifetime.  It just seems like there is more political "gotcha" on the side of Alabama outgoing Republican governor Bob Riley's part than anything else.  Now I'm not saying the proponents of such shroud are innocent either considering the likes of Milton McGregor along with a cornucopia of politicos that flat out deserve the side-eye whom is associated with these such interests.  However, the true victims of this is the citizens who rely on the these establishments as forms of gainful employment in these economically horrible times.

Just Friday, Alabama House Rep. John Rogers of Birmingham wants to file a voters' rights complaint in the federal docket against Riley and the Alabama Supreme Court.  According to the Tuscaloosa News, this is on the basis since the voters of the Greene County, Alabama, where the GreenTrack Race Course and gaming facility is located, ratified in 2003 an Alabama constitutional amendment allowing "electronic bingo" operations within their county's boundaries.  This is conflicting with the Alabama law explicitly prohibiting gambling, but the state constitution has over 840 amendments and dates back to 1901.  In other words, it is a convoluted, legally contradictorily document.  Regardless, Alabama citizens allow this to continue to be their state charter because they feel that if anything changes then it will allow "special interests" and "lobbyists" to take over the operations of the state.  REALITY CHECK: Special interest and lobbyists already run the state capitol in Montgomery.

The involvement of the Alabama Black Caucus doesn't really help the situation considering many of them are albatrosses on the necks of the those advocating the passage of the such pro-gambling legislation.  (Anyone who reads my blog or follows me on Left in Alabama knows why the Alabama Black Caucus is a joke).  The piss-poor attempt via a pro electronic bingo bill in this years regular session of the Alabama State Legislature came to a screeching halt following the federal probe in April.  According to the Birmingham News, a number of state legislators from both the Alabama Senate and House where informed of the investigation, but given few details until the official questioning occurred.  The bill died in the final days of the session left not voted upon by Alabama Senate in late May. 

Economically speaking Alabama is more fucked probably more so than most other Southern states.  Alabama's citizenry still does commute long distances to far-flung places for employment due to the lack of variety of jobs outside of the major urban areas.  Its black citizenry is especially fucked because outside of the cities pretty much most of them live in the Black Belt, which is a very economically depressed region.

This is just a bizarre situation and reminiscent of why I'm so leaving this state because there are too many things wrong with this place and no enough intelligent individuals to push progress further here.

Another chapter in black politics (actually just social issues): THE BOONDOCKS

Yeah, just by the way this post sounds somebody will read it and roll their eyes almost immediately.  However, the Aaron McGruder-created series is quite realistic in a satirical and parodist manner about how society is.  I've been a fan since the beginning, but isn't exactly a fan of the overt usage of the n-word though understand the context of its usage.  

The Boondocks speaks upon many things that black and white Americans does in such a foolish manner yet doesn't realize how crazy it is from another perspective.  In particular, the ongoing theme of the show's first 2 seasons were racial issues involving black and white Americans in suburban areas.  You would have the already established white citizens living in that area then the influx of non-whites into the neighborhood with the sudden suspicion that there is "unwanted elements" arriving.  Interestingly enough, those non-white formerly "new arrivals" become suspicious of more non-white new arrivals to that same neighborhood they were just looked down upon because of their difference in lifestyles.  It's just a vicious circle, yet McGruder exploits this for the world to see in his now-defunct comic strip and current TV series.  

McGruder ridicules the ostentation nature of intimacy involving interracial relationships such as the character "Tom", who epitomizes the idea of an "uncle tom".  "Tom" has a white wife, who is wild for any good looking black male.  The point of the satirical representation whom is "Tom" isn't interracial relationships itself rather the idea that being in one removes one from the issues involving race in our society.  That's far from the fact because there are many situations where "Tom" would fall back into the web of issues associated with being black although he has an interracial familiar unit.

Another thing, McGruder exploits in particular in the second season of his series is hip-hop and its surrounding urban culture.  He focuses on  obsession with the hip-hop and urban culture by suburban whites.  McGruder shows that although these youths listen to and attempt to imitate such cultural icons and quirks (although most are only figments of fantasy and exaggerated by the media), they don't suffer the consequences of their actions as would black when they exercise such behavior.  He made quite clear that although these youths are truly aren't malevolent in intent with their actions, they can get away with these antics.

In addition, McGruder focus on the hypocrisy within the hip-hop on homosexual behavior.  He points that out with a rapper in the series who denied to the very end that he wasn't engaging in homosexual behavior although it was proven time and time again.  It goes to show that some will engage in such behavior and still live in denial.  He also satirizes the foolishness of some rappers like 50 Cent, Fabolous, Busta Rhymes, and such on the glorification of being shot various times and obtaining "street cred" from such incidents.

The current season of the TV series parodies the bandwagon effects of black Americans.  He pointed out with the election of sitting president Barack Obama, many blacks felt that was a "game changer" in the state of race relations and the idea of "one of us" in the White House.  However, the storyline revealed this to be far from the truth with the notion that 2 of the main characters were rejected access to the inauguration and following festivities.  Another character, Huey, knew from the beginning this was far from the fact, but it was displayed that his ambivalence was "outsider behavior" and "treasonist" in nature by many black characters in the episode.  Now this isn't saying that all black people have group mentality, but it is obvious that many exhibit such even in my past postings. 

The most recent controversies the series has pointed out is the foolishness of now Viacom-owned BET.  The BET network executives pushed to have the 2 episodes ("The Hunger Strike, "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show") satirizing the network's poor representation of modern black culture.  The parodies of the network was quite accurate since there is practically no news, public affairs, or informational programming in its line-up since Viacom acquisition in 1999.

The most recent stir-up is the recent episode "Pause", where McGruder satirize the plays of Tyler Perry and his "Madea" character, and consistent message of the works.  He also exploited the alleged culture that exists behind the scenes with Tyler Perry's professional and personal life.  This includes the exploit of Perry being a closeted homosexual who uses his religion and usage of Jesus to deflect the discussion of his personal life while furthering the allowance of homophobia amongst black religious circles.  There are a number of works by Perry where he has ridiculed LGBTs, particularly black males in his plays and films.  Especially while in character as "Madea" mentioned black LGBT males as "tambourine players", but the irony is "Madea" is black male dress in women's clothing also "drag" himself.  

According to the Los Angeles Times, Perry apparently is furious with Turner Broadcasting, who owns the Cartoon Network and ironically parent company of TBS where he airs his 2 sitcoms.  The execs at the network are now trying to coddle Perry to keep him from possibly pulling his shows off the TBS network.  However, Perry knows other networks would give him the time or day with his corny ass shows though.  Most critics (including myself) sees most works of Perry as examples of the sanctimonious nature of some black folks,

To sum it up, the Boondocks depicts the issues surrounding the black people and to certain extent society itself...

Birmingham city council's pattern of blaming the businesses instead the true problems

One thing I have noticed about the Birmingham City Council regardless of whom is sitting on it, is its level of ineptitude of on problem finding and solving especially when it comes to night clubs and bars.  First, in 2008, lead by then mayor Larry Langford, the Birmingham City Council pushed to have Banana Joe's night club closed via revocation of its liquor license after the shooting which led to the death of 21 year old by an underage teen.  Last year, Langford urged the City Council to have Club Zen shuttered on Morris Avenue in downtown after a Bessemer resident stabbed a club patron there.  Now on June 29th, the City Council moves to have the Continental ballroom and night club shuttered after allegations of complaints from police officers (not citizens) although there hasn't been any major incidents there in months.

It seems like to me that the Birmingham City Council is a pool of idiots more than they are a board of legislative representatives of the city.  You don't blame the business owners for the problems of the patrons when it clearly an issue that is nearly impossible to totally prevent.  You don't see in Atlanta governmental entities pushing to shutter every club or nightspot that has an incident occurs because they know that it is nearly impossible to remove that element from society only control it.  However, Birmingham has a pattern of shooting itself in the foot economically while attempting to claim to improve along the way.  NOT!!!! 

My advice is you know there will ALWAYS be a "hood club" in every city, but the business owners of these establishments should realize what type of cliente they are catering to while attempting to keep the potential of criminal activity to a minimum. 

On the other hand, this is the same entity that wants to vote fund $10,000 for the "Thunder on the Mountain" fireworks display over Red Mountain after the lead organizers said that is seeing a shortfall due to lack of sponsors.  This all the while Birmingham is facing a major budgetary shortfall themselves guaranteeing a 30% pay cut for civil protection such as police and firefighters.  SMH!

Links courtesy of the Birmingham News and al.com.

The South continues to be home of the most fat asses

Not surprise to me, but the report issued by Trust for America's Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation depicted that the South is home to 9 of the 10 fattest states in the nation for adult obesity.

Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia are all in the top 8 depicted by the bright red color.  The other 2 spots in the top 10 is South Carolina at 9th with North Carolina and Michigan tied for the 10th place.  Georgia and Florida are the only Deep Southern states that lucked out this time around, but that may have much to do with the existence of Metro Atlanta for Georgia and the big 3 in Florida (South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Orlando).  This is embarrassing considering this region is also home to the nation's highest number of black Americans, but on the flip side home to the highest level of abject poverty as well.  It's like if you live in the South then you are already predisposed to be fat because of the lack of infrastructure conducive with mobility, economically or physically.  The region has the lowest amount of public transit infrastructure availability and usage amongst the nation's major metropolitan areas.  Let's not forget the lack of adequate health care services.  Pathetic and scary.

Oh Jeff Sessions...

You just had to prove to the world that you are an idiot, misanthrope, and bigot once again.  You came up with these bizarre line of questions in the three-ring circus they call the "senatorial hearing" for the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.







This is what Alabama has allowed to represent them in the U.S. Senate along with Richard Shelby.  WTF???

Some things about to occur

It irks me to no end to see Congress rejecting the extension of unemployment benefits for those who are trying to find another job in this abyssal recession/depression by a 261-155 margin. 

As the debate over unemployment benefits continue in Washington, here are somethings that those Democrats and Republicans blocking the extension saying it "makes people lazy" should think about.  One there are 1.7 million people who are looking for jobs for at least 6 months, but still no luck at all.  This will increase to nearly 3 million people if this isn't extended.  Second, these people are your constituents in primarily in swing states like Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Nevada, where jobs aren't as plentiful as in the past, but these people will vote against you because of your callousness.  Third, the states that seem to be hurting the most are the reliably socially conservative states in the Deep South like Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, where unemployment is well over 10% of the employment rolls, but those idiots in DC like that  over the top effeminate closet case Lindsey Graham, the racist Jeff Sessions, the demented one Jim DeMint, and greedy fool like Richard Shelby are from these states.

Michigan Senator Carl Levin in the Huffington Post said that the claims that it will add to the deficit "lame", but he summed it quite well about the problem:

"The problem that exists -- 20 years ago I took a USA Today reporter out to an employment office and he interviewed the people in line waiting for their checks and it was a wide diversity of people, and it was a front-page story," Levin said. "The problem I have and you have is there's no place you can go to talk to the unemployment. They get their checks through the Internet -- the money's sent to them. So it's hard to put a human face on this, but there are 1.7 million human faces, plus their families, so we're determined to find a way to humanize this."

The media's negligence towards displaying the faces of this unemployment problem which should allow everyone including the recalcitrants in DC, who live off our dollars but couldn't give a damn about the people.

The 2010 BET Awards

I have to give it up to BET this year since they decided to give us some decency rather than usual fuckery.  This year's award show was in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium.  First off, Chris Brown was able to finally give the well deserved tribute to Michael Jackson and was finally forgiven by the public.  The moments of the night for me were Monica's duet with soul singer Deniece Williams of "Silly", which was sampled by Monica's current hit song "Everything to Me".  The next moment was the Queen of Facial Expressions, Prince's mega side-eye towards Trey Songz as he failed at singing "Purple Rain" (as since above) in an unofficial tribute attempt.  I was LAUGHING MY ASS OFF at this incident.  Prince is A FOOL, but I would have been with him on the side-eye.  The majority of his official tribute conducted by Janelle Monae, Alicia Keys, Esparanza Spaulding, and Patti LaBelle was pretty good. 

Also there was a Teddy Pendergrass tribute lead by model/actor/singer, Tyrese, but it wasn't that good in my opinion... Then there is the foolishness of everybody on stage for the gospel number with the exception of Yolanda Adams.  Aubrey "Drake" Graham and Nicki Meningitis bring 35,000 nobodies on stage from Young Money on stage with them when they each won their tokens from EBT, I mean BET.

Somebody needs to find a cure to that audio/visual disease known as Nicki Meningitis aka Nicki Minaj because that bitch has no talent at all...

To sum it up, it was better than the last 3 years BET Awards, but not to the level of the first 3.  I guess happy 10th anniversary, BET Awards...

The continuation of Birmingham's population decline...

Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released their last population estimates before they release the official figures (which are currently being compiled).  However, Birmingham population still look as if it is in the ranks of the Rust Belt cities rather than the ones in the Sun Belt.  Birmingham has declined by an additional 5% according to figures to 230,130 from 242,840 in 2000.  This all due to the poor leadership and political baggage that seems to impede its growth seen in other fellow cities including majority black cities like Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans (although it suffered a huge blow with Hurricane Katrina), and Washington.  The only Southern city that has seen continual decline as Birmingham is Baltimore (and for similar reasons).

Meanwhile other fellow Sun Belt Southern major cities like Atlanta (climbed to 540,921), New Orleans (up to 354,850 after Hurricane Katrina's aftermath) Nashville (climbed to 605,473), Memphis (slipped to 676,540), Orlando (climbed to 235,860), Jacksonville (climbed to 813,518), South Florida: [Miami (climbed to 433,136), Fort Lauderdale (up to 184,892),  West Palm Beach (up to 99,504)] , Tampa Bay Area: [Tampa (up to 343,890), St. Petersburg (slipped to 244,324)], Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: [Dallas (jumped to 1,299,543), Fort Worth (climbed to 727,575)], Houston (jumped to 2,257,926), Austin (climbed to 759,673), San Antonio (up to 1,373,668), Oklahoma City (up to 560,332), Tulsa (balancing out at 389,625), Louisville (up to 566,503), Charlotte (jumped to 709,441), The Triangle: [Raleigh (jumped to 404,718), Durham (up to 229,136), Chapel Hill (up to 51,247)], The Piedmont Triad: [Greensboro (climbed to 225,061), Winston-Salem (climbed to 229,828), High Point (up to 101,618)], The Upstate: [Greenville (up to 61,782), Spartanburg (balanced out at 40,387), Anderson (up to 27,181)], Richmond (up to 204,451), The Hampton Roads: [Norfolk (balancing out at 233,333), Virginia Beach (balancing 433,575), Portsmouth (slipped to 99,321), Hampton (slipped to 144,236), Chesapeake (up to 222,455), Suffolk (up to 83,659),] The DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia): [Washington, D.C. (climbed to 599,657), Baltimore (slipped to 637,418)]. 

It's pathetic, but another fact of the Birmingham problem.  The city is still losing more residents than gaining them to balance out or increase city population.  At the rate it going, it will be a city that will wind up seeing a political coup in the next few years lead by yuppies and wealthy whites because there won't be enough black voters to keep the city the way it is politically.  This is all meanwhile the suburban areas in the Greater Birmingham area gaining major population boosts at the expense of the city and the region as a whole.  Birmingham is well on its way to becoming a Southern-version of Detroit, where everybody lives in the metropolitan area rather than the racially stratification city proper.

The Epic battle between Terri Sewell versus Shelia Smoot

 

Well, the sides have been defined and it seems that the battle to claim the helm of the Democratic nomination for Alabama's 7th congressional district seat.  Jefferson County commissioner and former WBRC "FOX6" consumer affairs reporter, Shelia Smoot, has made her amends to grab the endorsements of the black political interest group Alabama Democratic Caucus (ADC) aka "Joe Reed & Co." along with the Alabama Education Association (AEA) also co-headed by Reed and Paul Hubbard.  According to the Birmingham News, Smoot also has received the endorsements from South Carolina congressman and Democratic House Whip James Clyburne along with Homeland Security chairman Bennie Thompson.  Whereas, attorney and womens' rights activist Terri Sewell has lined up the endorsements from feminist interest group Emily's List, equal pay advocate Lily Ledbetter,  Alabama black interest group New South Coalition (headed by Alabama State Senator Hank Saunders), and amount of unofficial support from labor unions.

The lines have been drawn who supports whom, but the real question is who's the better candidate for Congress?  I can speak on this personally since I live in the district.  It's Terri Sewell.  She has clearly defined herself as a social progressive that stands on the right side of gay rights issues, women's rights, economic development, health care reform, equal pay for both genders, and financial reform.  Meanwhile, Shelia Smoot has been mired with baggage like Erykah Badu's song "Bag Lady".  Smoot has been on the Jefferson County Commission since 2002, and since then they have soared in bond debt from county-owed sewer system (and bond swaps administered by former county commission president Larry Langford), sued numerous times over personnel quips involving Smoot, and let's not forget when Jeffco couldn't even make payroll where Smoot along with the other commissioners with the exception of Bobby Humphryes refused to take a paycut.  

I'm absolutely loving Sewell's haters like RedEye on her little double-dutch short bus blog (this is same fool whom I've had to shut down numerous times on Left in Alabama for being so damn irrational and illogical while debating ).  I love this line:

"Sheila Smoot has street creds, which may be why she has so called "negative baggage". Anytime you are active in the community you will have favorable and unfavorable opinions."

First of all, it's "street cred", there is no "s" on "cred" (***EYE ROLL***), but I had to laugh at this fool because this person is another one of those retards that I talk about constantly suffering from delusions of misinformation and impropriety.  How in the hell does she have "street creds"  when all she has ever done is worked as a news station report and now a county commissioner that shows up at events so that her face is seen.  REALITY CHECK: Smoot's going to be unemployed without a full-time job for the first time in 8 years after December and needs this gig in Congress as an income.  She hasn't been that good of a commissioner considering she knew about state law that requires the posting of commission meetings minutes and county documents, but didn't even attempted to do it until the Birmingham News exposed her and the rest of the commission.

Then there is Smoot's shill on Left in Alabama, gradyw, whom was officially outed by one of the blog's moderators after constantly be relentlessly basing accusations about Sewell while blatantly omitting Smoot's baggage.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious along with that Sewell is the wiser choice since she isn't baggage ridden as Smoot.  Then all one has to look at the endorsements of the Reed & Co. and AEA to make continue to second guess on Smoot's candidacy.  I'm shaking my head at James Clyburne, but then yet doesn't he have his own state's Democratic party's foolishness to worry about?  Also I don't care at all for the New South Coalition aka "Saunders & Co.", but if it will get Sewell elected over Smoot then so be it...

This is the guy holding the Democratic nomination for South Carolina's U.S. Senate seat?

The information about that buffoon, Alvin Greene, keeps a coming.  He has proven to me to be the dumbest, most bizarre, and apparently a reprehensible individual.  The woman behind the allegations and case of Greene's felony obscenity charges, Camille McCoy, has spoken out in the past week to the Summerville Journal Scene newspaper in Summerville, South Carolina.  Guess what, McCoy is a white woman...oh, how typical of an idiotic minded fool like Alvin Greene...UGH! 

She had just sat down at one of the computer stations when an older black man, dressed as though he might be a repairman or custodian, sat down at the computer station next to her. She had noticed him when she had first entered the room, but had quickly forgotten about him as she concentrated on her work.


But then he started to become invasive — leaning toward her, talking close, trying to start conversations with her.
At first, Camille said she tried to politely ignore him. After all, the guy seemed more annoying than dangerous.
“To me, he seemed slow, “ she said. “He obviously wasn’t a student.”
Then he asked her if she liked football. When she offhandedly replied that she did, he told her to check out what was on his computer.
What was on his screen, however, was not football.
“It was porn – black on white pornography,” she said. “He scrolled through several pictures. I immediately told him that was offensive and he needed to leave. He laughed at me and said, ‘let’s go to your room.’”

WOW, WOW, WOW!  Greene is obviously something else, but this is what the voters of the Democratic U.S. Senatorial primary voted for the nomination...

Then there is the interview from a former fellow servicemen who knew Greene while in the military with Gawker:

Could you tell me a bit about your time working with Greene?


During the first couple of weeks of working with him, myself and most everyone else noticed that he wasn't all there mentally. Whenever he was given a simple task such as filling a temporary hand receipt it would never get done, mainly because he didn't know how to fill one out. And this is the most fundamental part of the job.
He also didn't show much interest in being a soldier. For instance, he was asked to do maintenance on the M249. This system is a little more complex than the regular service rifle. When it came to Greene's turn he was able to take the weapon apart but didn't know where to start when it came to put it back together. He showed no interest in learning and would mumble under his breath about not wanting to do it. So after a couple of months of trying and not getting anywhere, people just made sure he was where he was supposed to be and in the correct uniform. He would just basically come to work and stare at the wall till it was time for lunch and then do the same till it was time to go home for the day. The platoon sergeant tried to get him to go see a doctor for help but he would never seek help.


There have also been questions about his mental state, and whether he is mentally fit to serve. Frankly, judging from his interviews he doesn't seem to be all there.


What you see in his interviews is what we had to deal with. People have been saying he acts that way because he is nervous, but it's not true. He has a difficult time communicating and really doesn't enjoy people asking him personal questions. I noticed when he mumbles incoherently it means he is agitated.
But I think he is a smart person. I asked him why he didn't go to Officers Candidate School since he has a bachelors degree [from the University of South Carolina] and he answered, "Why would I do that since that would require more work?" After he said that I realized what he was doing. He was being very lazy and working the system to get by. Even though it's obvious that he suffers from some kind of mental illness, I have worked with people that suffer from alcoholism to bipolarism and they would put more effort into what they did during their day to day life then he ever did.

This guy is an IDIOT, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.  However, it gets even better with the CNN Newsroom interview with Don Lemon from last week.  Even Don Lemon felt this interview was bizarre:



Honestly, I don't know what the fuck went on there, and the fact that the South Carolina Democratic Party wants him to repeal from the ballot says a lot about the constituency.  This is idiocy at its very worst, yet some of the dumbass posters on Jack & Jill Politics have the audicity to want to support and find this dumbass "inspiring" because he has a "D" behind his name.  Uh yeah, this is just another reason why I'm an independent because some Democratic bloggers have proven they have juju beads for brains...

Another curious case of irrationality involving Democrats, but this time in South Carolina

Normally, I wouldn't even say anything about the South Carolina unless it's just ubber-partisan or socially foolish since it is South Carolina (home to no real large Southern metro and the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson region doesn't count).  Anyways, apparently on Tuesday the state Democratic voters have shown why there isn't any Democrats or progressives on the ballot to challenge seating U.S. Senate Jim "Demented" DeMint (google the son-of-bitch and see why I call him "demented"). 

The Democratic senatorial primary had to 2 candidates one a former justice and state legislator Vic Rawls and the other was an unemployed, military veteran, who lives at home with his parents, Alvin Greene.  Now I don't crap on vets, but this one is a doozy.  According to the Associated Press and the Hill, Greene has a pending conviction of felony involving obscene acts involving showing unwarranted displays of his penis towards a University of South Carolina female student and attempting to come to her dormitory residence.  (UGH!).  This Greene guy is a piece of work, but the idiocy amongst a number of Democratic voters on Tuesday like last week in Alabama is AMAZING.  Now the South Carolina Democratic Party is trying get Greene to step down, but he refuses quoting this statement from NPR and the Associated Press:

"The Democratic Party has chosen their nominee, and we have to stand behind their choice," Greene told the AP at his home in Manning. "The people have spoken. We need to be pro-South Carolina, not anti-Greene."

This foolishness has generated some major issues for the South Carolina Democratic Party as well as the DNC.  According to The Hill, U.S. House Whip and South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn said that "there is some shenanigans going on" and wants the U.S. attorney for South Carolina's Midlands district to investigate this.  Clyburne thinks Greene is a "plant". 

"I think there's some federal laws being violated in this race, but I think some shenanigans are going on in South Carolina," Clyburn explained. "Somebody gave him that $10,000 and he who took it should be investigated, and he who gave it should be investigated."

This is all because how can somebody unemployed come up with $10,000.  I would like to know because shit I could a cool $10,000 right now...

Oh yeah, Greene didn't even campaign or anything yet won 100,000 votes beating seasoned politicians who spent over $100,000 on the campaign by 59% margin.  Yeah, Democrats you guys are setting a precedent, but it's not well thought out one that will cost you an election in a time when Jim "Demented" DeMint is at his weakest.  Oh well, more proof that the Democratic party is a big ol' tent, but a number of them are idiots and fools...

Rationale wins over idealism in Arkansas senate race

Rationale wins out this time in Arkansas with Blanche Lincoln securing her spot as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race in November in Tuesday's run-off against Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter.  However, her Republican opponent has already had a 3 week headstart on her in the race after winning his race outright on May 18th.  According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Lincoln beat Halter by a 52-48 margin in the run-off. 

Meanwhile, a number of whiners including Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0, gawking at Lincoln as "conservative Democrat" along with her vote against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2008.  Reality check, she is a moderate meaning she will vote progressive sometimes but not all the time.  

As I refuted in March, rationale is what the majority of Democrats have to use to maintain power and push foward with a progressive agenda.  Expecting an overnight takeover and change of direction of Congress.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  Otherwise, electing a liberal group-supported candidate would have guaranteed a loss for in November.  Anybody with an inkling of political knowledge could have seen the Republicans using Halter's win via outside influence as a clear liability and tag to paint him as a 'liberal'.  Lincoln isn't perfect.  As a matter of fact, Lincoln has a lack of discernment on a number of economic and fiscal issues, but she at least has shown her ability to rationalize a moderate to progressive stance on social issues such as hate crimes legislation in these crucial times. 

That's the reality of things, you have to work with those who show willingness to support you instead of attempting to be vindictive.  As I've said time and time again, vindictiveness isn't going to win an election.

Well, Obama agrees with me

Oh well to Peanuthead aka James Carville, his wife, and them...

***SHRUG***, another chapter in black politics

Well in the case of Alabama, polls have closed and it has been reaffirmed to me and others that something is inherently wrong with the political landscape.  I've relentlessly time and time again made it known that even as early as last fall that Artur Davis was damned if he did and damned if he didn't, but he didn't give himself much slack when decided to stay in Congress long after "jumping the shark" with getting President Barack Obama elected to office.

But this post isn't about Artur Davis so as it is about how schadenfreudean individuals across the internet and nationwide are gleeful at Davis' loss Tuesday.  His interpolation of progressive and moderate political stances did confuse many, aggravate some, and infuriated a few.  However, Roland Martin's pious interpretation of Davis' lack of attention to black media outlets like his show on TV One, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, or Joe Madison's Sirius/XM radio show as "arrogant as hell".  Roland Martin himself is an arrogant and homophobic, so he doesn't have room to even talk about anybody considering his grandiose delusion of being the "sociopolitical voice of the black community".  To other idiots like Rod McCollum proving yet again he doesn't know shit about Alabama other than what others tell him, where he dedicates an entire post to rehashing the same tired mantra and half-truths about Davis while giving his sycophants an attempt rejoice at Alabama's loss of its only real progressive gubernatorial candidates for sometime to come.  Finally, the duplicity of Jack & Jill Politics poster "rikyhah" proves that it doesn't know shit either when it comes to Alabama politics.  Alabama black folks didn't vote against him because of his lack "loyalty" rather the fact that there was a rather low turnout and most (like myself) where ambivalent about the whole race in general because the Alabama Democratic party operates.  NOTE TO THEM: Numbers, facts, and knowledge of the area's local media outlets are your friends not The New York Times, Politico, or The Huffington Post when it comes to having the incite to make an informed comment about anything.

Davis along with his campaign miscalculated the willingness of the moderate to progressive voting base within Alabama to go to the polls.  This is symptomatic of the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) lack of fortitude to move from being a post-Dixiecrat state party with black tokens to a modern Democratic National Convention state op where it's a big tent and a multitude of interest and individuals.  I've regurgitated over and over again a number of times why in this state it's so hap-hazardous for a southern state to allow black politicos to be elected to public office. Interesting, Josh Goodman of Governing magazine who summed it up quite accurately, "AL-Governor: Did the Voting Rights Act Doom Artur Davis?" , where he talked about how detrimental minority-majority districts have and can be for black politicians running for statewide offices in the South.  However, the barons of ignorance like Joe Reed & Co. aka "Alabama Democratic Coalition" and Hank Sanders and the Alabama New South Coalition are all against the removal of gerrymandered minority-majority districts where guarantees of black politicos are elected.   This does more of a disservice to those black voters in the long run than anything else since allows stalwarts of status quo want to maintain the racially pure mindset of politicians.

Kyle Whitmire summed it up in his commentary this past weekend on the site Second Front:

Sometimes you’re dealt a loser, and there’s no surviving no matter which cards you throw away and which ones you keep.

FYI, I don't care if Alabama and Mississippi are home to the most elected black politicians in their state legislatures in reference to their states' black population composition especially when it comes down to the fact in the case of Alabama nothing has essentially changed since the 1970s.  The next chapter will be about direct versus substantial representation, and why the curious case of Congressman Steven Cohen of Tennessee (D-Memphis) is probably going to be the best thing that ever happened to TN-09 congressional district.  Future chapters will be about black LGBT/SGLs and the relentlessly sanctimonious black community on progressive social issues along with a discussion on why The Boondocks exposes how stupid and retarded some black folks will carry on about anything.

Some black folks have brought this shit on themselves and it's about time somebody exposes it for what it is, fuckery.  Now I know why some black folks will run to the oddest places in the world just to escape the "black community", and these folks are probably most afrocentric individuals you would ever meet.

WOW, WOW, WOW!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THAT I WAS A ONE-SIDED INDIVIDUAL, WELL I'M NOT!

Case and point, Bill Maher.  On Friday night on last week's installment of Real Time, he decided to make a pop shot at President Obama not being a "real black president".  He goes on a diatribe about how Obama should carry a gun under his shirt like a "real black person" and threaten to shot somebody in the foot at a meet with BP officials. 

"I thought when we elected a Black president, we were going to get a Black president. You know, this  is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants [saying];
"'We've got a motherfu*king problem here?' Shoot somebody in the foot.

Now, that's the last fuckin' straw in my book.  Yeah, I'm about to go into rant mode...

Maher clearly has racial issues, and that's just scratching the surface.  He has gone on the record on a number of stereotyping black folks including the time where conscious rapper, activist, and actor Mos Def had to check him on his foolishness. Also there is Maher's habit with dating black women, but according to Karrine "Superhead" Steffans herself that he like to have ignorant, uneducated black women around that he can always argue down and degrade.  The irony of this statement alone is something for referencing again and again coming from Maher when he falls within this very demographic group on ABC's This Week back in April:



Yet, you make stereotypical statements about black people just a few weeks later.  Something is clearly up with this guy.  Just in March he made some blanket statement about Muslims, and caught a backlash for that.

The finally death-knell in my opinion is his arrogance towards religion.  Although I'm not a religious person (rather spiritual that prays every night to God) who has issues with a number of modern religious congregations, I don't deride people's ability to have faith in religion to maintain their sanity through tough times in their life.  Maher alleges that panelist is his friend, S.E. Cupp, yet he ridicules her for empathizing those who are religious and relies upon it for the aforementioned reasons.  

Bill Maher is an arrogant, racially biased asshole who has proven even to me that he needs to put up a sippy cup of STFU and gulp down a huge swallow of reality and self-evaluation.  Even if he does give fodder for liberals on socially conservatives' stupidity and I'll admit there have been the moments.  His lack of ability to write for himself and yeah that was proven during the writers guild strike of 2008 when his monologue was missing.  However, this guy is an asshole, plain and simple, and that's unforgivable.

On Georgia's gubernatorial primaries

I've been paying attention to Georgia's gubernatorial election campaign, and one of the things that has been standing out is large slate of candidates on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.  The clear front-runner according to the latest Insider Advantage Georgia on April 7th shows that former Georgia governor Roy Barnes is leading 20 points over current Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker. On the Republican side, the current Georgia Insurance Commissioner is leading by not by much (about 8 points) according to the Insider Advantage Georgia latest poll conducted April 5th.

The latest foolishness that has many in Georgia politics gagging is the closed-door meeting withholding press access hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce last week at the Reynold Conference Center and Resort on Lake Oconee in northeast Georgia.  This was a clear violation of Georgia open-meeting law aka "sunshine laws".  All the Republican candidates were in attendance, but only one Democratic candidate Roy Barnes was there.   However, Barnes and Georgia State Senator Jeff Chapman denounced the press restrictions.  As a matter of fact, Barnes issued a formalized press release denouncing it (too little, too late in my opinion because he looks like a crony that will associate with the wealthy to get his way).  As a matter of fact, to my knowledge Reynolds Conference Center and Resort in northeast Georgia is a place where the wealthy and corporate executives go for retreats, so Barnes has a lot of explaining to do to the average Georgian.

Like Alabama's, Georgia's gubernatorial race is going to be an interesting one...

On the BP oil spill...

 
Well, one of the main reasons why I'm so silent on this catastrophic event is because it has become too politicized for my tastes to talk about.  Case and point, Peanut-head AKA James Carville is whining and screaming on television at Barack Obama as if he is superman that can clean up the spill himself, "Do something man!  We're dying down here!"


It's even worse with the dittoheads like Arinana Huffington of the Huffington Post calling him Obama "Nowhere Man" because he isn't trying to be everywhere all at once especially in reference to the oil spill disaster.

The rest of the media wants to allege that this is going to be "Obama's Katrina".  Oh yes, President Obama is leaving thousands of people without basic needs such as food, shower, and shelter in a lawless environment to up to five days, ***EYE ROLL***.  This is my reason why I don't care to want to regularly post about this although it is occurring here in the South because once again the liberals, Democratic pundits, Republicans, and even the media is there to prove to me that all have something to prove that is "that Obama is an inadequate black man for president".  All of which is so far from reality that it's laughable, and I commend Jon Stewart of the Daily Show for making light of this overexaggeration.

Alabama's Democratic gubernatorial primary update

Since all the gubernatorial primaries will occur next Tuesday, I felt the need to comment on the status of the races in the Alabama.  Well, it's confirmed that Artur Davis is pretty much going to be the winner of the Democratic primary since he is beating Ron Sparks in most polls with key demographic groups.  On the Republican side, it's going to be a toss-up if not a run-off between Bradley Byrnes and Tim James, the other candidates such as the controversial and all-around bigot Roy Moore (just Google "Roy Moore controversy" and you see what I mean) and other nobodies will be left in the dust.  However, what really irks me more than anything else is the lack of resolution of any of the candidates discussing the issues like gambling and the lack of ethnics reform.  Constitutional reform is getting some attention only via the Davis campaign, but the others are seems to ignore the existence of such.  In other words, aside from Davis all of them sound like business as usual without any derivation from the status quo of the past 3 decades in Montgomery. 

On the foolishness from the stupid ass campaign ads by James with "common sense" as the central theme (see here, here, and here) to the front organization called "Concerned Citizens" set up by Republicans and the Alabama Education Association (AEA) railing against Byrnes to the Byrnes and his reactionary, uninspiring campaign ads (this one alone sums up his whole lame campaign) themselves has made for another typical personality-and-association only campaign ignoring the issues on the Republican side.  In the past 2 weeks Ron Sparks finally was able to gather enough spare change after running an essentially penurious operation to finally air campaign ads on television.  Also this week, Sparks realizing (finally) that he is on the losing end of things that he must actually attack Davis with something on TV and radio, but the futility of the ads are laughable.  Especially, considering Sparks has been connected to being a racially bias towards Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry employees, getting a suspiciously large private loan from a Montgomery area community bank, being directly connected to special interest groups (cue AEA, Alabama Power, ALFA, & crew), and being involved with incendiary individuals like Milton McGregor and James Powell of the political consultant group Matrix, LLC, who were involved with the racially bias and homophobic mayoral campaigns of Larry Langford and William Bell in Birmingham.  Finally, Sparks appearing on the incomprehensible fool known as Glenn Beck's show on FOX News Channel last summer babbling in reference to global warning while clearly playing it up for the white reactionary and closed-minded crowd. 

Although Davis seems to be the best candidate amongst all these fools with endorsements of progressives like Georgia congressman and Civil Rights activist John Lewis and Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.  However, I've already laid out the fundamental flaws of Artur Davis as a politico that will cause him more heartache down the line and have liberal activist harping for years over his stances and track history in politics.  Also Artur Davis has made known that he doesn't want any part of the ignorance involved with the Alabama black political establishment, but of course they along with Sparks wants to make it a wedge issue.  On the other hand, progressives realize that in a politically warped and socially conservative state like Alabama and the South in general one must make allegiance with Satan himself to push this state forward.    Overall, this is considering the so-called "good guys" are just a self-serving as the "bad guys".

LOL @ Rahm "Rumball" Emanuel attempting to get PA. Congressman Sestak out of the Democratic senatorial primary with a job offer

LMAO @ this fiasco because I knew for awhile that Rumball Emanuel is a snake-in-the-grass who will do ANYTHING to get what he wants, but this is a bit extreme for even him.  Emanuel used Bill Clinton as the intermediary to convene the uncompensated job offer to Joe Sestak earlier this year to get him to drop out of the Pennsylvania Democratic senatorial primary.  According to the New York Times, Sestak was presented this offer in February.  (***KANYE SHRUG***)

I'm just getting a good laugh at this because honestly the Democratic establishment wanted Arlen Specter to remain in office for an additional term since he has quite a bit of clout in DC.  However, the things that people will to keep others in power is AMAZING.  On the other hand, I give the side-eye to the brigade of Republican Senators (including that sissified closet case Lindsey Graham) calling for a special prosecutor (cue Kenneth Starr again) to look into this, but Sestak himself is pushing this as well.  So you see that apparently Sestak was to stir up some dust himself about this, and then Pennslvania governor (and known political provocateur) Ed Randell has said that it should be explored. 

To sum it up, this screams vindictiveness on the part of Sestak to get even with the Obama administration for supporting Specter over him and will inadvertently will help and place him in a position to be attacked by Republicans.  However, if you want to make some real enemies then I bet this is a real good opportunity on Sestak's part.  FYI, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy that he won  because some LGBTs were cheering because of "more pro-same sex unionship" stance over the moderate stance of Specter's more moderate stance on such issues.  I roll my eyes at such subjective things when I knew some politicos are just as destructive as their opponent(s)...

Rand Paul, the politician and the clueless when it comes to public policy

 

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Rand Paul, son of that aversive racist, self-proclaimed libertarian yet politically identified Republican, Ron Paul, has proven that he is an idiot when it comes to public policy and obviously A'OK with racial bias in the private sector.  Although the Civil Rights of 1964 has prohibited such business that uses public services and has products and services that crosses state lines, Rand Paul has made it known that it shouldn't be left up to the federal government to impose their views on private businesses.  In other words, he is A'OK with it, but won't say it up front because he knows that any political opponent or interest group would nail him to the wall. Instead, he decides to avoid answering the question and create a diversion to allude to the obvious on MSNBC's The Rachael Maddow Show (seen above) like he did in a NPR interview on a prior date.  It seems to that he wants to have it both ways, and it doesn't work that way...

This just goes back to what I've been saying for a while now, libertarianism is good in theory but very impractical and unrealistic in policy making or enforcement.  The ideology is very detrimental to social judicial policy-making and the fixing of what is wrong with our society.  Instead, it shows that many of them are just simple-minded individuals that doesn't realize (probably doesn't care) that this is another weapon to further impede social equity for everyone.  As I'm said awhile back, the T.E.A. Party is basically a group of angry, closed-minded white people that seem to be more reactionary than practical in thought process.

Oh yeah, word to those federal same-sex union (or in some words "same-sex marriages") advocates,  Rand Paul and his father isn't allies at all of your cause, just look here and here. 

Also the libertarian purist mindset that Ron and Rand Paul along with their followers in the T.E.A Party are just as delusional as the extreme liberals and social conservatives.  Hence why as the old saying goes even with politics, do everything in moderation, and why I'm a progressive.  In the end, this fool like his father are dangerous and talk a big game but lacks the insight or objectivity to produce social progress for all just for eurocentric-worldview, radical social conservatives.

UPDATE: The gift that keeps on giving, I've obtained the footage of his stance on the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).



So Rand Paul is A'OK with 2nd class citizenship of even disabled Americans because he doesn't want to impose such regulations on a private business owner and rather let local governments decide (***SIDE-EYE***).  This guy is a piece of work for sure, and you see his handlers see that Paul is an idiot and doesn't want anymore proof of this being exposed.  If you left it up to local and state governments then, most of the disenfranchised and minority groups would have been clamoring for their rights and privileges to this very day (especially in a state like Alabama, where the state legislature act as anything that doesn't evolve the protection of "moral values" is unimportant).  There are 2 words that comes to mind, "tacit consent", and this is of racism and racial bias.  I might contradict myself with this sentence but here I go, he and his father might not actually be "racists" but they do give tacit consent of racial bias by private businesses...

Oh goodie! A run-off

Well, this will be a short post.  In Arkansas, where Blanche Lincoln, a conservative Democrat, that was generated quite a bit of controversy for herself over the years for being a moderate and recently voting against the health care reform legislative package.  On Tuesday, dubbed by the media as "Mini-Super Tuesday" (***EYE ROLL***) was a loss for a number of moderate Democrats where recent change over longtime Pennsylvania senator, Arlen Specter, lost to Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary there.  Sestak will face Republican challenger and fellow congressman, Pat Toomey, in the November.  I guess opportunistic motives doesn't pay off at all and even the President abandoned you.

Oh yeah, let me not forget that aversive racist and libertarian while claiming to be Republican Congressman, Ron Paul's son Rand Paul won the Republican primary in Kentucky last night as well.  It's just a gift that just keeps giving (***EYE ROLL***).  Anybody with any history of the Pauls know how their libertarianism is more aversive racist in mantra and foolishness.

On to the main event at hand, Blanche Lincoln will be facing the liberal interest group-supported candidate and Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter in June for a run-off.  Oh boy, I can't wait to see what type of stupidity will be pedaled after seeing some of these ads on evening newscasts.  FYI, liberal interest groups, as a progressive Southern that knows what's good, if Halter does prevail, I can guarantee you that the Republicans will win in November.  Arkansas is not a North Carolina or Virginia where there is a substantial progressive and liberal electorate that will secure the state in the Democrat's column.  However, if you want to toss Lincoln because you believe that having a more liberal candidate will secure a vote for liberal causes (rather than progressive one) then I have a bridge to sell you guys for a dollar.  Arkansas is a conservative Southern state that survived as a Democratic stronghold from the pre-Southern strategy era because of the conservatism of their candidates who run for statewide office.  Yeah, unions can get you a little sway, but ultimately I just don't see Halter winning in the fall.  However, that's just my objective assessment of the situation...

Uh ok...

So there is a heaping load of craziness in the Greater Birmingham area to keep me looking at the region with a blank stare.

For starters, the jackal for mayor, William Bell, has proposed cutting city employee salaries by 10%, closing 5 public libraries, community and recreation centers, and killing funding to non-profits to "close the financial gap".  Meanwhile, he along with the City Council has given the A'OK to the entertainment district near the Birmingham-Jefferson County Convention Complex (BJCC) anchored by a Westin hotel.  The kicker is the Birmingham City Council is basically alright with funding the entertainment district via the tourism tax money (aside from the 2-member oversight board consisting of Birmingham's mayor and a member of the BJCC board to issue the bids and planning process).  Of course, the City Council would be up in arms about the cuts in services and salaries, but not for the reasons one would initially believe.  It's about the fact that it essentially cuts their slush fund they have sitting around and ability to do what they want with it.  IMHO, this is a huge clusterfuck screwing over everybody except the elected officials and their appoint staffers who are practically immune to this since they will always find a way to pay those overpaid fools a salary as long as they are in power.  Meanwhile, the average city employees are going to have a chunk taken out their asses along with that jackal proposing to leave a number of areas of Birmingham without a public library or community center for months.  It just shows that idiot shouldn't have been elected as mayor in January or allowed to wreak havoc on the populous.

Then on to the ongoing saga known as the Jefferson County occupational tax and its now-defunct predecessor.  Apparently, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that Jefferson County must refund taxpayers $37.5 million of their money from the now-defunct Jefferson County occupational tax which levy 0.5% of each check.  However, the Ala. Supreme Court also ruled that Jeffco could get back that money via usage of its current occupational tax statute and to give those greedy ass bastard lawyers who sued to remove the tax $13 million.  HUH?  In other words, they want to tax the taxpayers after they were just told their former tax was illegal.  Just another bizarre lesson in Alabama's warped legal code that makes no sense at all.  This is main reason why I don't care for the lawyers or Jeffco Commission for this bullshit that has basically destroyed the reputation of Jefferson County worldwide in the media.  It's like the greedy just can't stop on either side of the foolishness.

UPDATE: After being ridiculed by City Councilors, citizen, and other groups, the jackal suspended the vote on the extension of the tourism tax and its allocation towards the entertainment district and hotel on Tuesday.  Now the BJCC board and the full Birmingham City Council will make to discuss the contract details.

Another blow to blacks aspiring to obtain more upward mobility (economically)

Another study released by Institute of Assets and Social Policy (IASP) confirmed what has been going on for awhile now, white American families are more likely to have better choice of economic upward mobility than black American families.  This gap accelerated during the period from 1984 to 2007.

Now this doesn't take into account of these other issues already plaguing most black Americans since as high chances of dealing with poverty, lack of access to resources to provide an adequate education, so on.  It's like the same song, but more proof of its existence.  Now the real question is when will social justice and economic equitable policy will be enforced to improve this situation.

Oh yeah, h/t to African American Political Pundit on the calling out the NAACP on their dropping their predatory lending lawsuit against Wells Fargo so they would be a title sponsor of their annual July conference.  It just shows that the average, hardworking black family is practically on their own when it comes to having social groups lobbying for such social justice in public policy-making.  

Apparently Georgia's (outgoing) governor Sonny Perdue couldn't resist...

Georgia's governor Sonny Perdue just couldn't resist filing a frivolous lawsuit against the federal government involving the passage of the health care reform bill back in March.  Initially, the Georgia Attorney General, Thurbert Baker, a black Democrat, resisted and was also threatened by the Republican-majority General Assembly with an impeachment.  Baker made it through the general session of the Georgia General Assembly unscathed. 

Perdue wanted Georgia so badly to waste money and appease the idiotic and reactionary with a waste of taxpayers' funds.  This is during a time when their state universities and colleges are going to be raising tuition by 16% at the big 3 AKA, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia for the fall semester.  SMDH!   DUMB, DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!

Heretic of the year...Laura Bush

She supports same sex unions, but she said it in her book and in the recent interview with Larry King on CNN on Monday.  It's the oldest trick in the (socio-political) book: you don't say anything when you could have done something, so you say anything when you can nothing.  Hence, why I call Laura Bush the "Heretic of the year" for 2010 because she sat by and let her idiot for a husband push dogmatic and demagoguery from the legislative process to appease the ignorant and reactionary. 

***KANYE SHRUG***

Hmmm...

I've been away for about 2 weeks and now more craziness from Arizona ranging from bans on teachers with specific accents to now the ban on ethnic studies in secondary schools, colleges, and universities.  Meanwhile, the economy has made a "bounce", but it appears that those who saw the bounce now have just reentered the job market with the unemployment rate to increase.

I'm just tired of Arizona, but made it known about 3 weeks ago that the state is ran by bigoted white politicos who have a very reactionary constituency that will eat anything fed to them including bullshit.  Yeah, the economy does suck (I'm in graduate school and feel its effects even from here), and as I've been saying the Democrats need to stop chasing their tails.  When I mean chasing their tails, I mean following the rhetoric and reactions of the unsettled and foolish.  Those of us out here who are need jobs and some hope are losing what little is out here because there seems to be major droughts in the most diversified urban areas of the nation.  It's very interesting after watching the "Rebuilding America" on CNN has give me some major incite about the recession: 1) the most ethnically homogeneous metropolitan areas are the most recession proof (see Austin, Omaha, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Des Moines etc.), 2) State and local governments particularly in the most diversified areas are suffering the most with the hemorrhaging of jobs (positions held by usually non-whites or lower salary), and 3) College graduates are the main ones being shut out of the job market the most often because of their lack of "experience" even for entry-level positions.

Houston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, etc. and the rest of the South, we have a problem.  There aren't any jobs for the young people, your future leaders, and they are either forced to take meager jobs that pays below the base living wage of the area or is hiding in the world of academia while accumulating tolls of college loan debt just to survive.  You have a growing diverse young population that can't even start their adult lives because of the unrealistic expectations of this group to attain a job, many of you harboring unresolved ethnic and racial bias leading to them be passed over for job although highly qualified, and the obvious unadulterated paranoia for nothing other than your lack of foresight for the future.  It's time for many of you guys to WAKE UP AND GROW UP! because you guys claim to be the adults but are carrying on worse than us "children" (as many of you claim we are to you).

Another lesson, states' rights

So there is another lesson and mini-rant about the whole states' rights issues involving the health care debate.  In Tennessee State Legislature there is another issue where states' right is being discussed about how the federal statute mandating health insurance for all citizens by 2014 involving the current bill titled "Tennessee Health Freedom Act".  Tennessee like 14 other states believe the law is "unconstitutional" and should weasel their way out of providing some form of social welfare services to those who are unable to afford health insurance at current market-rate levels for themselves and/or their families.  (Very typical of most Southern states where social welfare of the low-income and impoverish citizenry is seen as contributing to their destitution with a broad brush as if all are "lazy" rather than aiding them until get out of their present conditions).

The whole topic of states' rights within itself is very subjective.  The origin of states' rights lies with the abolition of slavery during the antebellum era where most Southern states argued that it was their choice to allow it.  However, it carried over into the creation and enforcement of Jim Crow law prior to the American Civil Rights Movement.  Of course their are suburban, exurban, and rural predominately white legislatures attempt to forge some type of argument that the federal statute is about the federal government overstepping their legal authority while over giving states back so little.  Case and point from The Tennessean:

State Senate Mae Beavers, a Mt. Juliet Republican, proposed the Tennessee Health Freedom Act, which essentially says Tennesseans don't have to abide by certain components of the federal health-care law and would require the state attorney general to block parts of the reform effort.Beavers said the issue is the federal government's interference in state business.
She said the notion of states' rights should not be misconstrued to mean anything else.

"I'm sure people have different connotations of all of that, but to me what I've been pushing is, I'm tired of the federal government interfering with our lives, taking part of our money and only sending part of it back," Beavers said. "I'm tired of the federal government mandating that we pass laws and in general trying to run our state government."

O'rly Mae Beavers?  Last time I remember (and anybody can google this), most Southern states receive nearly twice as much back in federal funding than its citizens pays in taxes.  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

Now on to the foolishness of those like Vanderbilt School of Law professor and author Carol Swain giving life to the foolishness of states' rights.

Swain said she understood why "older blacks" would have a specific point of view about the 10th Amendment. But Swain refuted the notion that renewed arguments in favor of states' rights had a racial subtext. 

"I think it is sad that so many older blacks are so rooted in the past that they seem incapable of moving ahead...What they need is a new way of looking at issues.

Everything is not about race and racism. They need to educate themselves about the constitution, federalism and the burden that federally imposed unfunded mandates impose on state and local government."

Apparently, she doesn't realize that you can't equate such silliness with an age bracket.  There are younger blacks that feel the same way about due their knowledge of history of how the concept is enforced.  Swain apparently wants to believe it is an egalitarian issue when it more about equity and access.  Her over simplistic view on this in addition to showing up to a tea party really last month in Nashville during the "TEA Party Express" stop, then fine.  However, your own ignorance and selective memory of how subjective the law and concept has been applied will be her own undoing when subjected to arguing and debating its usage.  But I digress, as I've been saying it boils to down to equity and access along with class and race.